A Different Story
by prosser783
Summary: You chose Kratos over Zelos in your game, and Zelos dies right? Not in my story. This time, when you do that it's A Different Story.
1. A Confusing Battle

DISCLAIMER:I don't own Tales of Symphonia. Namco does.

Something Going On

It was right after the group went back to the Tower of Salvation for the attack on Cruxis. Zelos had just betrayed them. He led them into a trap to take away Colette. Pronyma, the leader of the Five Grand Cardinals, had just took her away, and Zelos was about to fight them.

"All I want is a fun, easy life. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less!" With that, Zelos summoned his golden-orange wings to fight. The group thought that they were going to have to kill him, but Zelos had other plans in mind.

"All that I gotta do is stall for a little bit. Then, I can make up for running away from my mistakes." Zelos thought.

"Might as well go all out, right?" Zelos asked.

"...You bastard!" Lloyd spat.

"You can call me whatever you like, but it's not gonna change anything. You ready?" Zelos said.

Zelos was fighting against Lloyd, Persea, Genis and Raine. Sheena and Regal sat off to the side, ready to jump in at any time one of their allies got knocked out(they forgot to bring Life Bottles). Zelos started running after Raine, to take her out so that she couldn't cast any healing spells. With his angelic speed, he was hard to keep up with, but Lloyd was fast enough to keep up with him and protect Raine. Right now, Genis was casting Atlas, and Persea was running behind Zelos to break his guard, but since Zelos heard her footsteps with his angelic hearing, he used Victory Light Spear to catch them both off guard. Then he teleported down to use S. Lighting Blade on Raine. She yelled in pain and was knocked out.

The angel cringed. "Sorry, Raine," he thought. While he was thinking that, he didn't notice Persea running off toward Genis to protect him.

"You're gonna pay!!" Lloyd roared. With that, he dashed toward Zelos, and started slashing at him with his swords.

"Come on Bud, you're gonna have to do better than that to beat me!" Zelos said after blocking the Peeping Tom's attacks. Being called "Bud" was one, but being called that by this traitor was another.

"I TOLD YOU TO STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Lloyd screamed in rage. All of a sudden, a spell caught Zelos off guard. He heard a certain half-elf yell "Atlas!", and got hit by the said attack.

"Crap. I forgot about him. That spell took awhile, but it's powerful."Zelos thought. After getting hit with said spell, and a couple of Double Demon Fangs and Twin Tiger Blades from Lloyd, he finally went into Over limit.

"Damn, looks like I have no choice but to use that attack..."Zelos said.

With that, he summoned up a large amount of mana and concentrated.

"Ready for this?!" the redhead cried. "Shining Bind!" With that attack, he took out Genis and Lloyd.

"There's something I forgot to...CRAP!"Zelos yelled.

"Eh? What happened?" Lloyd asked after waking up from Zelos' very loud yell.

Zelos put away his wings and said, "Um there's something I forgot to do, bye!" With that he ran off.

"What was that about?" Lloyd and the group wondered.

PLEASE REVIEW!!


	2. Who's side is he on?

1DISCLAIMER: I don't own TOS. Namco does.

What's going on?

Lloyd and the group were confused about Zelos' behavior. First, he betrays them and fights them, then he runs away in the middle of the battle! After getting their wounds treated back in Flanoir, and getting all of their supplies, they talk about what happened in the Tower of Salvation.

"Zelos was acting pretty strange back there." Lloyd said.

"I agree. His behavior was even more suspicious in the tower than when we were coming to the tower." Raine added.

"Maybe he was just pretending to fight us, to get something from us." Sheena said hopefully. Even though he was just a 'Stupid philanderer Chosen', as she liked to call him, they became very good friends throughout their journey.

"I doubt it. I think he was trying to kill us back there, and he almost did with that powerful attack!" Genis said, not being too fond of the Chosen himself.

"Well anyway, we should rest up today, and head back tomorrow. Is that okay?" Lloyd asked the group.

"I have no objections." Regal and Raine said.

"I don't have a problem with that." Persea said.

"Me either." Sheena and Genis said.

"Alright then. Good night." Lloyd said. Little did they know that someone was watching them...

Back at the Tower of Salvation

"Good job, Chosen. You shall get what you wished for. You are no longer the Chosen, and Seles will be released from the Abbey." Mithos told Zelos

"Thanks." Zelos grinned, but he was dying on the inside. He didn't want to betray his friends, much less hurt them. Pronyma just then entered the room.

"My lord. I couldn't find the bodies anywhere. All I found were small pools of blood." The leader of the Five Grand Cardinals said.

After hearing this, Mithos became suspicious.

"Zelos, did you truly get rid of them?" The leader of Cruxis asked.

"Um...y-yes?" the redheaded angel stammered.

"LIAR!!" Mithos roared.

"Crap! Time for me to go! I already have what I want, and did what I have to do! Later!" With that, Zelos pulled out his wings, and used all of his mana to teleport to the one place that he knew the group would be at.

The inn at Flanoir. When he got there he used his last ounce of strength to put his wings away, and collapsed at the front door saying one last word:

"Lloyd.."

BACK to the Tower

"What did he mean by he did what he had to do...? Mithos thought.

It then hit him. Literally. The soul of Martel, his sister, just collapsed under the overwhelming intake of Zelos' mana.

"No! MARTEL!" Mithos cried. Pronyma left the room in a hurry, knowing what was going to happen next.

"There all going to pay!!" Mithos yelled. Every angel heard his angry cry(except for Zelos).Kratos, and even Lloyd heard it.

"What was that?" Lloyd cried. The others didn't know who it was, except for Genis. He knew that anguished cry from anywhere. He knew it was...

"Mithos..."

How will the group take it when they find Zelos and a certain other angel in front of the inn? How will they deal with what was happening? Read on and find out!

PLEASE REVIEW!!!


	3. A gift to save someone

1DISCLAIMER: I don't own TOS. If I did, I would've made them make a sequel.

A Different Story

"Wake up, Chosen." A voice said.

"Sheena? Is that you?" Zelos thought. Just as he was about to grab 'her' bosom, he got punched. Hard.

"No you idiot, it's me!" He said.

"Who's me?" Zelos asked.

"It's me, Yuan!" Yuan said.

Zelos woke up to find the said blue-haired angel standing in front of him. He thought that Yuan would be getting the Renegades out of the tower of Salvation.

"Yuan, why are you here? You should be- Zelos was about to ask him about the Renegades, but Yuan interrupted him.

"All of my men were killed. Corpses were everywhere." Zelos cringed at the thought of slaughtered bodies covered in their own pools of blood.

"Anyway," Yuan continued. "Weren't you going to give IT to Lloyd?" Yuan asked.

Zelos' eyes widened. How did you know?"

"One of my men told me that they saw you take IT from the storage facility. Hurry up and give it to him; he'll need it to save Colette."

"...Alright. I wonder if they'll let me explain to them." Zelos said.

Yuan shrugged. "Who knows. You'll have to try anyway." With that, he hid in the shadows.

Zelos knocked on the door to the inn. "Who is it?" Raine's voice asked.

"It's me." Zelos said. There was silence. Zelos backed up away from the door, knowing what was going to happen next.

The redhead sighed. "3...2...1..." As soon as he got to one, the whole group bursted out of the inn with their weapons drawn.

"What are you doing here?!" Lloyd yelled.

"WAIT !! Just let me explain..." Zelos said.

"Explain what?! Why you betrayed us?"Genis said.

"Yes. I wanted to get something for you to save Colette." Zelos said.

The group lowered their weapons, perplexed at what Zelos said.

"...You have something that can help us?" Lloyd asked, going closer to Zelos.

"Yup! I even did something that made Mithos almost kill me, too" Zelos said with pride.

The group sweat dropped. "...What did you do this time?" Sheena asked.

Zelos grinned. " I destroyed Martel's soul!" The group gasped, and Yuan came out of hiding.

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Yuan yelled.

"Oops. I forgot that you loved her. Lloyd, catch!" Zelos threw IT to Lloyd.

"Later, Bud! I'll see you at the tower if I live!!" With that, Zelos ran as fast as he could, with Yuan right behind him. The group just looked on in silence, before looking at what Zelos gave to Lloyd. They were shocked at what he gave them.

"This is a ..." Lloyd trailed off.

"A Rune Crest..." Raine finished.

Lloyd closed his palm around it. "Zelos...Thank You..."

Heh, the plot's thickening. PLEASE REVIEW!!!


	4. The Savior of the Rune

1DISCLAIMER: I don't own TOS.

Chapter 4

Lloyd and the others got a good night's rest before going to the Tower of Salvation.

They stood in front of the entrance, waiting for Zelos to appear.

"Hey guys!" The group sweat-dropped at Zelos' bloody form.

Zelos had many bumps and bruises on his face. He also had various cuts all over his body.

"...Uh, Zelos, what happened to you?" Lloyd asked.

This time, Zelos sweat-dropped. "Remember when Yuan was chasing me?" Zelos asked.

"Oh." the group said. Nothing else had to be said.

"Well anyway, let's go!!' Zelos marched cheerfully into the tower. The group soon followed after him.

...After losing everybody to the various traps, only Zelos and Lloyd remained. Zelos carried Lloyd to the entrance of the final room, knowing about the final trap that awaited them.

"Thanks, now let's go save Colette!" Lloyd exclaimed.

"Alright!" Zelos said.

Inside of the room, Lloyd and Zelos were about to get hit by Mithos' magic, but a Fire Ball spell stopped him. Lloyd looked up to see that Genis, Persea, Regal, Raine and Sheena were standing atop of a pillar. They all jumped down, one by one, to assist him in battle.

"Sigh What an annoying group. Pronyma, finish them!" Mithos ordered.

"Y-yes sir." The Leader of the Five Grand Cardinals stammered.

Lloyd, Regal, Persea and Raine got ready for battle. Zelos and Genis stood off to the side, ready to jump in if they had to.

Pronyma started off with an agarazium to Lloyd, trying to knock him out early, but with incredible speed, Lloyd sped up to avoid the attack, and go in close for some hits.

"DEMON FANG! SWORD RAIN: ALPHA! BEAST SWORD RAIN!" With those attacks, and with the Topaz equipped from the pact with Luna, Pronyma took some serious damage. Regal took out one of the Idun. Raine took out the other one with a Photon.

After blocking one of Pronyma's attacks, Lloyd ordered a Unison attack.

"PSI TEMPEST!"

"PHOTON!!"

"SWALLOW DANCE!!"

"ETERNAL DAMNATION!!'

"NOW LLOYD!!" "PHOTON TEMPEST!!!" With that Unison Attack, Pronyma was defeated.

"Lord Yggdrasill...Mithos...Please help me..."

At the mention of his name, Mithos became angry.

"Only my former companions can call me by that name! Get out of my sight!" Mithos used his magic to kill her, the last of the Five Grand Cardinals.

"That's so cruel..." Persea said. As Mithos was distracted, Lloyd tried to put the rune crest on Colette, but Mithos saw him.

"You're NOT going to cure her!!" Mithos teleported in front of Lloyd and destroyed the rune crest, while using enough force to send him back a couple of feet.

"Damn! That was the only one I had! Now what are we gonna do?!" Zelos thought.

"Dammit...I failed...I'm sorry, Colette...' Lloyd said. Just then, another person sped past everybody, and put another rune crest on Colette. Colette woke up and asked,"Where am I...?"

"NO!!! Who did that?!" Mithos roared.

"No way...It's...It's..." Zelos trailed off

"Kratos..." Lloyd finished.

The said man turned around.

"I am sorry that I couldn't get here earlier."

"He was the one that saved us from the traps back there." Raine explained.

Mithos brought out his wings and turned into Yggdrasill. "I will kill you all !!!"

TO BE CONTINUED...

PLEASE REVIEW!!!


	5. Vs Yggdrasill part 1

1DISCLAIMER: I don't own TOS. Namco does.

Vs yggdrasil PRT.1

Before the battle started, Mithos asked the group of nine a question.

"Why can't you see the good in my plan?!" he asked.

"How can your plan be good if you've killed countless innocent people?!" Lloyd retaliated.

"Don't tell me what's right or wrong!!" Mithos barked.

"Zelos, do you have any magic Lenses?" Lloyd asked.

"Uh, yeah."

"Use it!"

"Here ya go!" The magic lens showed that yggdrasil had 80,000 hp. He was strong against light, and weak against dark magic.

"Okay, I'll just equip the amethyst... where is it?!" Lloyd cried.

"I have it." Kratos said coolly while rushing past Lloyd to go in for an attack.

"Oh..." Lloyd said while rushing in to attack as well.

Zelos, Persea and Regal protected Sheena, Raine and Genis while they casted spells. Mithos teleported away from the father and son, and right behind the three spell casters to interrupt their attack, but Zelos used his Spell Charge ability to instantly cast Air Thrust.

"Damn you, Chosen!!" Yggdrasil roared. He used his Death Eater attack to knock Zelos and the others off, but he completely missed Lloyd and Kratos. They got in close, and used their attacks.

"SONIC THRUST! TIGER RAGE! TEMPEST THRUST!"

"DEMON FANG! SUPER SONIC THRUST! VICTORY LIGHT SPEAR!"

As the two finished their attacks, Yggdrasil roared out in pain. Why did their attacks hurt so much, he wondered. Then he saw it. He saw the T. Seal, Darkness cards floating around them. He became so angry that he teleported in between Regal, Persea, Genis, Sheena, and Raine and used all of his Mana on his Outburst attack. All of the said people cried out in intense pain, and landed on the ground, KO'D, and with burn marks all over their bodies.

"Oh no! Guys! Zelos, Kratos, keep Mithos busy while I heal the- "

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Mithos sneered.

"Why?!" Lloyd cried.

" I placed an ancient curse on them. If you wake them up, they'll suffer more." Yggdrasil said. After some tense silence, two voices yelled...

"GRAVE!" Then Lloyd cried out...

"SONIC SWORD RAIN!" Kratos and Zelos soon caught on.

"Follow it up!" Kratos yelled. Then they both yelled,

"ROCK MOUNTAIN!" A shower of giant boulders fell on the Cruxis leader, then one even bigger boulder fell on him, and started to drag him down to the ground a little, and caused a little earthquake to follow. Yggdrasil's cries were drowned out by the earthquake's constant rumbling.

After a couple moments of silence, Lloyd asked, "Did we do it...?"

As if on cue, Yggdrasil teleported in front of them, and did that thing that Remiel does after shooting bows at you. The three were thrown back into the machine behind them.

Enraged, the said blonde said, "This isn't over yet!"

"Zelos said, "Well, we can see that."

I really need reviews, so...PLEEEEEAAAASSSSSE PLEASE REVIEW! The only person that has been reviewing is Alaia Skyhawk, and I appreciate them.


	6. Vs Yggdrasill Prt2

1DISCLAIMER: I don't own Tales of Symphonia or any of it's unison attacks.

Chapter 6: Vs. Yggdrasill Part 2

After Yggdrasill got up, he used his mana to create a sword of light.

"I won't lose here. I will have my age of Lifeless Beings." He stated coldly, with no emotion in his voice. His face was devoid of any emotion, too.

Lloyd's face, on the other hand, was filled with determination.

"We'll make sure that you die here. Besides," Lloyd pointed to Kratos and Zelos, " It's two angels against one. Three sword users against one. Two healers against one enemy who can't heal. How will you win?" Lloyd's little speech enraged the Cruxis leader.

"ENOUGH! I WILL win, no matter how many of you there are!"

Mithos charged towars Lloyd at blinding speeds. Somehow, Lloyd blocked the attack, but was thrown back by the force of the attack. This time, Kratos and Zelos charged in with their swords, the Flamberge and Crystal Dagger, while Lloyd recovered form the attack.

The sound of steel clashing against steel rang throughout the destroyed room. The two angels kept striking against their former bosses' defenses, but were penetrating them slowly. Once Lloyd charged in and started striking at the defenses as well, Yggdrasill's footing faltered, and was about to get attacked, but...

Yggdrasill teleported behind them and used Death Eater to cause some serious damage. Zelos took the least damage and said:

"Cover me! I'll heal while you guys attack!"

The other two swordsman merely nodded, and charged in for the attack. Yggdrasill went on the defensive once again, but this time Lloyd and Kratos used their Special Attacks to break his guard more easily.

"TIGER BLADE! SWORD RAIN! TIGER RAGE! TEMPEST THRUST!"

"SONIC THRUST! FIERCE DEMON FANG! LIGHT SPEAR CANNON!"

After the attacks, the Cruxis leader's guard broke, but before he could teleport, the two swordsmen each used one more Special Attack.

"BEAST!"

"DEMON SPEAR!"

Yggdrasill was knocked down once again, and Zelos then called out:

"Healing Stream..." He healed about half of their wounds. Kratos then also called out:

"Healing Wind..." He healed the other half of their wounds.

"Thanks, Kratos, Zelos." Lloyd said. The two older swordsmen just nodded in his direction. When they looked to see where Yggdrasill was, they couldn't find him ! They looked everywhere: up, down, left, right, but they couldn't find him.

Suddenly, a voice said,"Surprise", and a powerful force knocked them almost unconscious. Their health were in the reds again!

Zelos and Kratos knowingly nodded to each other and told Lloyd to stay back. They pulled out their wings and teleported next to Yggdrasill.

"What's-" that's all Ygdrasill could say before two voices yelled:

"SHINING BIND!" Zelos and Kratos used all of their mana to execute the attack, and finally finished off the Cruxis leader...for good? Maybe.

This could go either way. Either Mithos is still alive, or someone else finally goes crazy, and takes his place. Tell me what you think. Please review!!!


	7. Kratos' explanation

1Sorry for the late update. I had to take a lot of tests in all of my classes for the past two weeks!

Anyway... I don't own TOS. Namco does.

Chapter 7

Kratos' explanation

As Mithos Yggdrasill was finally defeated, the curse on the others was

finally lifting, and they were slowly waking up. As they were waking up, Lloyd and Zelos turned

to Kratos, Lloyd's father.

"So, Kratos," Lloyd began. "How did you know that we would be here?"

"Why did you bring another Rune Crest with you, old man?' Zelos asked.

"...If you call me old again, I'll kill you slowly and painfully." Kratos said.

"Yes sir." Zelos said, now shaking with fear.

"Anyway, tell us how you got here so soon and with an extra Rune Crest?"

Lloyd asked. The rest of the group, including Colette, gathered around to

listen. Kratos closed his eyes and thought. "Well..." he began.

FLASHBACK

_Kratos, in his Judgment outfit, walked down the empty and _

_soulless halls of Welgaia. He was walking to the corridor that held mana _

_fragments. He approached the angel that guarded the fragments._

"_Good day, my lord." The angel said as he bowed. Kratos merely nodded as he _

_acknowledged the angel before him._

"_I need ten mana fragments. Please hand them over."_

"_...As you wish, my lord." The angel retrieved the items and went back _

_to his guard duty. Kratos left. Apparently, the guard forgot about angelic _

_hearing, because as soon as Kratos left, the guard tried to radio Yggdrasill._

_Kratos ran in with his Flamberge in hand, sliced the guard in half and left once _

_more._

"_Hello? Hello?!" Yggdrasill's voice became more frantic and _

_annoyed. After a couple of minutes, the line went as dead as the _

_angel guard. Kratos went bact to his room, made the crest, and, as _

_some say, the rest is history..._

**As Kratos opened his eyes, he saw that the rest of the group had listened **

**intently, and were grinning at him. Kratos merely looked away and ran his fingers through **

**his hair out of embarrassment.**

"**...So that's what happened." Shocked, the group turned around to see a very injured **

**Mithos.**

**He had many open cuts and gashes all over his body. He was slowly disintegrating.**

"**You were the one who killed him. Oh well. If I die, I'm taking you all with me!!" Mithos **

**roared ****while activating the self-destruct system for the room. The doors were slowly **

**closing while the last of Mithos disappeared****and all that was left was his Cruxis Crystal. **

**Everybody was frozen to their spot. Kratos was the first to react.**

"**Everybody, get out!" Kratos yelled. The rest finally came back to their senses, and ran **

**as **

**fast as their injured bodies could take them...**

**Please review!**


	8. Escape from the Tower

1Disclaimer: I don't own TOS.

Chapter 8

Escape from the Tower of Salvation

Everyone finally regained their senses at Kratos' words. They all saw the door slowly coming down. They thought that the shut down system hadn't been used in a while. Then, all of a sudden, a monotonous called out:

"THE TOWER OF SALVATION WILL SHUT DOWN IN ONE HOUR."

That's when every body ran as fast as they could. They were running for the emergency exit once again. When they got into the halls of Welgaia, they saw an extremely gruesome sight.

Dozens of angels were covered in blood. The ones who were still alive were fighting each other. Everybody stood, stunned at the gruesome sight before them. Even Kratos was shocked at what he saw.

"What's going on?!" Lloyd asked. He turned to his father for answers. As Lloyd turned, so did everybody else. They all turned to Kratos for answers, but he wasn't paying attention. He stared at the angels with a crazed, bloodthirsty look in his eyes. His eyes were red, too.

"Kratos...?" Sheena called. No response. Instead, he summoned his sapphire wings, unsheathed the Flamberge, and joined the other angels in combat.

"KRATOS! KRATOS!!" the whole group called out to him, but he paid them no heed. Instead, he fought harder, using his special attacks without even calling them out.

"What's going on around here...?" Zelos wondered. All of a sudden, a wounded angel with a Key Crest came up to them. Out of pure instinct, the group pulled out their weapons.

"...I do not wish to fight you." The wounded angel said. Reluctantly, the group put away their weapons.

"What do you want then?" Lloyd asked, voicing the group's thoughts. The angel turned to him.

"I see. You're the one that Yggdrasill wanted.' the angel said.

"I'll ask you again, what do you want?" Lloyd said with a little more force this time. The angel, scared by his words, cautiously said his words.

"My apologies. My name is Keith. I have come to tell you why these angels are fighting." Keith said.

"Please tell us." Genis said. Keith nodded.

"Alright. Do you see that star up there?" Keith pointed to a star, barely shining in the sky. It was directly above him.

"Yes, we see it. What about it?" Regal asked.

"That star is special. It brings out the combative instincts of all angels who have been in Welgaia for a long period of time." Keith said.

"Why are you not affected by it then?" Raine asked.

"Do you see this Key Crest here?" Keith pointed to a Key Crest attached to his Cruxis Crystal. It seemed different than other Key Crests.

"Yes. Is it special in some way?" Colette asked.

"It is. Not only does it give me my soul back, it also prevents the star from affecting me." He said.

"Who gave it to you?" Lloyd asked.

"Lord Yuan and Lord Kratos gave it to me." He said. The group was shocked at this.

"Why did they give it to you ?!" Sheena asked.

"To be honest, I don't know. I remember hearing Yuan saying something about being useful, and Kratos saying something about spies..." Keith answered.

"How do we turn our friend back to normal?" Zelos asked, pointing to Kratos, who had slashed and hacked his way through about two dozen angels without getting touched once.

" That's easy. The one who he cares about the most is the one who he'll respond to."

"Thank you for all of the information. Oh, one last thing. Who's the one that activated the star?" Raine asked.

"You mean you don't know? It was–" before he could finish, an angel impaled him through the chest with his spear, killing him instantly. Two other angels came down to fight.

Lloyd cried out, "NO!" and unsheathed his swords, the Wasier Rapier. Soon after, the others pulled out their weapons. They had to fight two Dark Spears, two Dark Commanders, and one Dark Sword. Since they had never encountered these enemies before, Genis, Regal, and Presea used Magic Lenses on their enemies. They were shocked at the results.

"Guys, be careful!" Genis shouted.

"Why? What's wrong?" Lloyd asked.

"The results were: Dark Sword: 90,000 Hp, 2645 attack, Dark Commander, 60,000 Hp, 1500 attack, Dark Spear: 75,000 Hp, 2300 attack." Presea said. Obviously, the group was shocked at the result.

"DAD!" Lloyd cried out, trying to calm him down. No response.

"He doesn't care about me...?" Lloyd wondered, obviously hurt.

"KRATOS! HELP!" Raine called. He slowly regained his senses. Fueled with rage at the rejection of his own father, Lloyd charged into battle.

"Lloyd! Stop!" Sheena and Colette called out. He ignored them. With unseen power, and with the jewel received from Volt, he used his best special attacks.

"SWORD RAIN! LIGHTNING TIGER! SUPER SONIC THRUST! BEAST SWORD RAIN!" With his anger and his blades, he already took out a dark sword. The group was too stunned to help. Lloyd unequipped the Sardonyx, and equipped the Topaz to take them out even faster. All of the angels tried to take the brunette swordsman down at once, but with skillful dodging, Lloyd avoided all of the attacks.

Lloyd charged in and slashed at another angel. He took out a dark Commander with three hits. A Dark Spear tried to thrust his spear into Lloyd's heart, but Lloyd parried with one sword, and impaled the angel with the other. By now, the others were working on taking out the angel commanders.

...After 10 minutes of slashing, hacking and spells being thrown towards the group and angels, the angels were finally taken out. The whole group had to eat a Miracle Gel each just to keep from passing out at the wrong time. As they tried to take a little time to relax, a monotonous voice called out:

"29 MINUTES UNTIL SHUTDOWN." Then, with renewed vigor, the whole group got up and ran to the exit. Lloyd stopped and looked behind him. He looked at Keith's impaled body, and said:

"Thank you..."

"Lloyd come on! We gotta go!" Zelos yelled.

"Alright, alright! I'm coming!" Lloyd said. He ran to catch up. As he left, a person who couldn't be seen looked down and said:

"Keith...You were supposed to be useful...Instead you betrayed me. You know you weren't supposed to tell them the information that you told them. Oh well...I guess I'll have to revive Martel by myself." As he said that, he pulled out his wings, and took off to another teleporter, hidden to every one. Even Yggdrasill didn't know about it...who is this guy?


	9. Plot Twist!

1

DISCLAIMER: I don't own TOS.

A Different Story, Epi.9

A Big Problem

As the whole group ran for their lives, Kratos slowed down to try to talk to

Lloyd.

"...Raine told me about what had happened back there." No response.

"I understand that you're mad at me, but I just wanted to say that I'm-."

"Will you shut up already?!" Lloyd had finally snapped. The whole group was near

the exit, so they stopped and turned around to look at the father and son.

"I tried to accept you, even after everything you've done to us! Now I find out that

you care about Raine more than me, your own son?!" The group was silent. Lloyd, now on the

verge of tears, and with a shaky voice said:

"No amount of apologizing will make up for this. I will never forgive you." Lloyd

said in a deadpan voice. The group was silent for a few minutes, then, Sheena spoke up.

"You shouldn't push away your only living relative like that, even if he...sort

of...rejected you." Kratos winced.

"You're lucky. At least one of your parents is still alive. I never knew my real

parents." Colette said.

"I don't give a shit. I will not forgive him, and that's that." Lloyd said coldly.

"..." Raine came up to him and slapped him.

"Don't disrespect your elders." She said coolly. After a few tense moments, Lloyd did

something unexpected. He pulled out his swords, yelled, "Majinken Soga!" and hit Raine with

two powerful Demon Fangs. The group was shocked at this.

"Lloyd! What the heck do you think you're doing?!" Genis cried. He sent an icicle spell

towards Lloyd, but said swordsman dodged it with Tempest.

"Hah! The fool's under my control now." All of a sudden, a cloaked stranger

appeared in front of them, also revealing a hidden teleporter, and a strange object in both hands.

"What are those objects?!" Regal cried.

"Oh, you mean these?" he held up the one in his left hand.

" This is what's controlling your friend." He held up his right hand.

"And this is a part of Martel." The group gasped.

"Why do you have those?!" Zelos cried.

"That is none of your business!" This mysterious stranger charged towards them, and

pulled out a strange Mythrill weapon. Obviously, the possessed Lloyd charged in, too.

"Magic Lens, NOW!" Zelos yelled.

"Here." Presea said. The results were: Lloyd Irving: 23,000hp, 2700attack????,

21,250 hp, 1750 attack.

"This is gonna be tough..." Zelos said.

"Indeed..." Regal said. Raine, Zelos, Presea and Genis went after Lloyd. Kratos,

Sheena, Regal and Colette went after the stranger. Lloyd charged in, ready to fight his own

companions, his friends. The stranger started casting a spell. Kratos tried to interrupt the spell,

but it was too late.

"Thunder Blade!" The blade of electricity came down, thrust into the ground, and

sent over 10,000 volts of electricity towards everyone around it, A.K.A. Kratos, Sheena, Colette

and Regal.

"Dammit...Regal! Heal!" Kratos shouted.

"I'm on it!" Regal replied. Sheena and Colette were working on lowering the

stranger's defenses.

"Power Seal! S. Seal Absolute! Force Seal!" Sheena yelled. With those attacks, she

lowered the stranger's evasion, defense, and make him stagger longer.

"Pow Hammer! Para Ball! Whirlwind Rush!" Colette's attacks knocked the stranger

back. After recovering from the hit, the stranger growled.

"It gonna take more than that to defeat me!"

Back to group 2...

Zelos was having a hard time parrying Lloyd's attacks. His attacks weren't as

reckless as before. Raine and Genis were preparing a spell, so Zelos was covering them. Presea

had just been knocked down by a beast technique, so she was still recovering from that. Zelos

was getting tired of just blocking, so he said:

"Sorry, Lloyd, but I've gotta do this." Zelos knocked the young swordsman off

balance and started using his special attacks.

"Majinken! Super Sonic Thrust!" he nearly impaled Lloyd with that. "Guranken!" He

set Lloyd on fire. Now Lloyd was screaming, running around in circles, screaming:

"Help meeee!" Presea got up and gasped at what she saw. She ran over to Zelos and hit

him on his head.

"Ow! What'd you do that for, little rosebud?!" Presea scowled.

"We weren't supposed to hurt Lloyd that much!" At this, Zelos became serious.

"You think going easy on Lloyd is going to help? If we go easy on him, he could

kill us! This isn't the same Lloyd that we traveled with. The Lloyd we know wouldn't attack us

like that, so don't hold back on him. Got it?" Presea was stunned. Zelos never talked this

seriously before, or made as much sense as he just did. The axe-wielder was forced out of her

thoughts when Zelos smiled at her.

"Hey, rosebud. I know I'm sexy, but snap out of it! He's coming back over!

Professor, brat, you heard everything I said, right?" They nodded.

"Good! Let's go!" Those were the last words spoken before the four of them

charged into battle again.

Back to Group 1...

Regal was knocked out. Sheena was casting Purgatory Seal to revive him. Colette

was casting Angel Feathers, and Kratos was exchanging blows with the stranger.

"Who are you?!" Kratos said. The strange pushed him back.

"Someone close to you." He responded. Kratos tried to pull off the hood, but the

stranger back flipped out of the way. He then proceeded to charge at Kratos while his defenses

were slightly lowered, but Kratos had a little secret plan.

Kratos proceeded to do something that Zelos did against Mithos, except that it

was more drawn out and complicated. He used spell charge to save not one, not two, but four

different attacks. The elements of the attacks were different. He used fire, wind, lightning, and

earth techniques, so he made it that the spells responded to a certain special attack that he used.

Kratos charged toward the stranger, and pulled out his wings once more. This

startled the stranger, and gave Kratos the advantage. It also gave the silent angel a chance to use

his new plan.

"Demon Fang!" A shockwave surged towards the stranger, then blades of air followed.

"Air Thrust!" The stranger's cloak ripped, and small pools of blood seeped through.

"Light Spear!" Kratos made the stranger float , and come back down. After they came

back down, Kratos impaled the man in his stomach, then a sword of thunder crashed down.

"Thunder blade!" Parts of the cloth hiding the stranger's face fell off, and partially

paralyzed him.

"Sonic Thrust!" A powerful thrust blew him away, and rock spears crushed him.

"Grave!"Even more of his cloth came off. Multiple cuts and gashes were visible.

Now it was time for the final assault...

"Hell Pyre!" 3rd degree burns were visible, and very little cloth was left. A pool of

lava surrounded the man, and shot up, scorching him intensely.

"Eruption!" The little bit of cloth was burned away, and the stranger was...

Back to the second group

Genis was casting Spread. Raine was casting revitalize. Zelos and Presea were up

front, covering their half-elf friends.

"Beast!" Lloyd tried to knock the two warriors away, but had very little strength

left, and very little tp left, so he couldn't do it.

"Spread!" As Zelos and Presea jumped out of the way, Lloyd was engulfed in

freezing cold water. He yelled out in pain, but his screams couldn't be heard over the sound of

the powerful geyser.

"Raine! How much health does he have left?" Genis shouted over to his older sister.

She checked the magic lens and said:

"He only has 6430 health left! Zelos!" Raine called.

"I know. Get ready!" Zelos said. His blade grew white, and he slashed. There

wasn't much time left...

"Light Spear Cannon!"

"Deadly Destruction!"

"Cyclone!"

"Ray!" All of the attacks connected. Then, Genis, with tears coming down his face, said:

"I'm sorry, Lloyd! Prism Stars!" Many beams of light hit Lloyd. They all looked

away, knowing that they were killing their friend. They all remembered the first time they met

him.

ZELOS

It was a bright day in Meltokio. Zelos was being followed around by those annoying

women he called "hunnies". He bumped into Colette, who then had no soul. Those leeches he

called women rudely snapped at her, calling her ugly and such. It was then that Lloyd made his

presence known, saying that the one who called Colette ugly never looked in a mirror. Zelos

wanted to laugh right there, yet he refrained from doing so. Later, when he learned that he was

going to travel with them, and keep tabs on them, he felt overjoyed. It was better than staying in

that boring city, and he got to know more about lloyd throughout their journey, as Lloyd got to

know more about him. They became fast friends.

RAINE

It was a day a couple years back. Raine found out that a new student was coming into

her class. When she met him, it was obvious that he was VERY energetic. That's what she liked

about him. She liked to see kids like that when they were coming to school.

"I'm gonna be the smartest kid in school, and make a lot of friends, and..." Raine

smiled. She also liked to see a kid with confidence. From that day on, she taught Lloyd in her

class...

GENIS

Like any other day, Genis was sitting by himself at lunch. Since he was so smart, the

other kids were jealous of him, and refused to play with him, or even talked to him. One day, a

brunette with a red shirt and dark green shorts came up to him and asked:

"Why are you sitting by yourself?" Genis turned to him. He looked into his eyes. They

had sympathy and concern in them, so he told him about how he had no friends. The boy looked

sad after hearing that and said:

"Okay then, I'll be your friend! My name's Lloyd!" He held out a hand for Genis to shake. Genis was stunned.

"Y...you'll really be my friend?"

"Yep!" Genis took his hand and shook it.

"Oh, and my name's Genis!"

"Ok then Genis, let's go have some fun!"

"Okay!" Genis never forgot that day...

PRESEA

It was right after she got her soul back. She remembered parts of the time that she

had spent traveling with Lloyd, and became sad. She vowed to help save Colette. One night, they

were eating dinner, and she didn't eat. She couldn't, after realizing what she had done. She felt a

hand on her shoulder. Out of instinct, she punched the person. Hard.

"Oww! Presea, I see why you can carry that axe. You're strong! Gah, I think I

swallowed a tooth..." Presea turned around to see Lloyd with a swollen cheek. She blushed out

of embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, Lloyd. Here, let me help you with that ice." She pulled the ice out of his

hands, wrapped it up, and put it on his cheek.

"Thanks...So, why aren't you eating?" Lloyd said. Presea looked up to the starry sky.

"I can't eat...it's my fault that Colette got kidnapped. I feel so bad about it."

"No. It's not your fault. You were being used by Rodyle, and your Cruxis

Crystal clouded your thoughts. It's not your fault." Lloyd repeated.

"...You're not mad at me?"

"Nope. None of us are. Your our friend now. Trust me- no, trust us when we

say it's not your fault."

Presea smiled. "Thank you..."

Lloyd smiled. "Okay then, let's eat!"

They all remembered the times that they had with Lloyd. Now, they stood over

his body, thinking that he was dead. Crying, they looked over him, when all of a sudden, his eyes

popped open! Startled, they all jumped back.

Lloyd yawned. "Hey guys, where are we?" Overjoyed, they all ran towards him

and gave him a huge hug.

"H-hey!" Lloyd laughed.

"You had us so worried for a while!" Zelos cried.

"Don't do that again!" Raine yelled. "Got it?!"

"Okay! Okay!" Lloyd said, now scared.

"It can't be you!" Kratos' shocked voice yelled. Group 2 turned around to see...

"Eh?! Yuan?!" Lloyd yelled.

...Alright, that's enough. 13 pages is good. Now you know who the stranger is.

Oh, and sorry about the japanese words. This is what they mean:

Majinken-Demon fang

Majinken Soga-Double Demon Fang

Guranken-Hell Pyre

Please review before I pass out...


	10. What to do now

1

Sorry for the long wait, I'll try to update faster.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own TOS.

Chapter 10

Now What?

SUMMARY- As the group tried to beat the timer on the self-destruct

sequence of the Tower of Salvation, a cloaked stranger appeared before them, challenging them.

All of a sudden, Lloyd, now possessed, turned on the group, and attacked them, along with the

masked stranger. Thanks to Group 2, Lloyd was set free from the spell. Thanks to Kratos'

ingenious ability, the stranger was revealed to be Yuan, the leader of the Renegades. Now,

reunited, the group turns to face Yuan...

Present time...

"YUAN What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Sheena yelled. The said

angel turned to face Sheena.

"What the hell does it look like I'm doing?! I'm trying to resurrect my fiancee!"

Yuan roared.

"Why would you do that now after all that time putting together the

Renagades ?!" A now free Lloyd asked. Everybody turned towards him, shocked that he was now

free. Colette was the first one to recover from this little discovery, happy that he was now free.

"Lloyd! I'm so glad you're alright!" Colette cheered. The said swordsman smiled

towards her.

"Thanks for freeing me from whatever was controlling me." Zelos sweat-dropped.

"Bud, me and the others actually helped out!!" The red-clad swordsman turned

towards him.

"First, Zelos, I will kill you when we get out of here. Two, you guys do

deserve some credit, so thanks to you guys, too." All of a sudden, a voice said:

"THE TOWER OF SALVATION WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN THREE MINUTES."

Everybody started to panic. That's when Yuan said:

"I'll leave...for now. I will be back, and next time, I will kill you all." With that,

he summoned his larger lavender wings, and teleported somewhere safe, and out of harm's way.

"...Dammit. Alright, let's get out of here, now!" The group nodded in approval.

Suddenly, Lloyd asked:

"Could someone help me? I feel a little weak..." The group stared, then,

suddenly, Kratos went over and pulled him up. Lloyd was stunned.

"Th-Thanks...Kratos." The angel merely nodded, and ran to the exit. The others

soon followed after. The group of nine hopped on their Rheiards as fast as they could, and flew

as fast as they could. Unfortunately, the aftershock of the explosion caught them, and they were

sent flying all the way to Sybak. The group was knocked unconscious.

...Three hours later, Genis woke up, the last to wake up after being knocked

out from the explosion.

"I see you're finally awake." Raine said, smiling.

"Sis, where are we? It looks like an inn..."

"And that's exactly where we're at." Raine said.

"We're in the town of nerds, if you haven't noticed." Zelos said, suddenly

appearing in front of the door. The Sages were shocked.

"Zelos, when did you get here?! We didn't hear you or sense your mana!"

Raine cried. The redhead laughed.

"While everyone was asleep, Kratos dragged me outside and taught me how

to teleport. It's really easy to do, once you get the hang of it. Too bad only angels can do it."

"Oh yeah. I forgot that this bonehead was an angel." Genis said. Zelos

scowled.

"Watch your mouth, brat." Deliberately changing the subject, Raine asked,

"Where's everyone else?" Zelos turned to her.

"They're all downstairs, waiting for you two. That's why I came up here.

Now, get going." With that, he left. After a few moments of silence, Raine said,

"Let's go, shall we?" Genis nodded. They put on their shoes and went

downstairs.

Regal was the first to look up.

"You're awake. Now that you two are here, let's talk about what to do next."

Raine took a seat next to Sheena, while Genis nervously took a seat next to Presea.

"What should we do next?" Lloyd asked. Kratos was the first to speak.

"Do you remember the Eternal Sword?" The group nodded. Kratos continued.

"We have to collect the materials needed to create the ring of the pact."

"What's that?" Colette asked.

"The ring of the pact is the ring needed to use the eternal sword. Without

that, and the pact with Origin, the King of the Summon Spirits, you cannot wield the eternal

sword." Kratos explained.

"So, we need to find Origin, and the Ring of the Pact." Sheena said.

"Wrong. We need to find the materials for the ring, and Origin has...lost all

faith in living things." Kratos said.

"...Well let's start with what we can do first. What are the materials

needed for the ring?" Lloyd asked.

"Well, there's adamantine, sacred wood, and aionis." Kratos said. At the

word aionis, Zelos perked up.

"Hey, that's that weird stone those people at the imperial research academy

made me swallow!" Zelos said. At this, everybody in the room looked at him. At all this

attention, Zelos became a little nervous.

"W-why do you think that I can use spells and magic swords? Aionis, that's

what. Zelos explained. Trying to get the attention off of him, he said,

"Kratos, could you help me out with some spells? You're the only one who

uses the same techniques as me. I'll be waiting on the outskirts of Sybak." With that, Zelos

dashed out of the room. The group, stunned at how Zelos asked someone for help, were unable

to react. Then, Kratos told them that he was going to help Zelos, and left.

Lloyd, Colette and Sheena all yawned and said, "I'm going back to sleep." They

all looked at each other awkwardly. Then, Lloyd suggested something perverted.

"Why don't we all share a bed? It is cold out." Both girls blushed at what he said,

but agreed nonetheless. They ran out of the room, embarrassed at what Lloyd said. Lloyd,

confused, said,

"What did I do?" Lloyd asked. He went upstairs to get some more sleep. Regal,

Raine and Genis merely shook their heads and went back to whatever they were doing. Hours

later, a bruised up Zelos went up to 'his' room. He accidentally went into Lloyd's room and saw

him curled up with Colette and Sheena on either side of him. With a blank face, he slowly left

the room, and constantly whispered, 'Just a dream...' to himself.

The next day...

The group, now refreshed and with all of their supplies, left. Something made

Lloyd think about something that no one else thought of.

"...By the way, where do we go first?" The twin swordsman asked.

Everybody sweat-dropped. Nobody thought of where to go next.

"Let's go to the church of Martel first. There should be some leftover wood

there." Presea said. The group nodded. Zelos pumped his fist in the air.

"All right! On to Meltokio!" Zelos cheered. The group started on their way to

Meltokio...

Sorry about this late update. I have so much stuff from Christmas that I forgot about my

story. Anyway, please review.


	11. Get the Sacred Wood prt1

Finally! I'm back with new ideas to keep this story up and running! I'm not gonna make a sequel...yet.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own TOS.

A Different Story

Chapter 12:Retrive the Sacred Wood(prt.1)

The group had decided to get the sacred wood first. Unfortunately, a Knight that worked for the Pope, a corrupted man who was trying to usurp the King of Tethealla's position, overheard them. He roughly pushed past some people and hopped on a Rheiard that was distributed to the Pope and his soldiers.

While the group of nine decided to travel by foot, since the city was about thirty minutes away, the soldier used his fueled up Rheiard to get to the city in ten minutes.

He wasted no time in getting to the Pope. He landed right in front in the Church of Martel, and dismounted.

"Out of the way! Move it! Pope's soldier comin' through!" The soldier shouted as he rudely pushed past some priests. Some of them sent him irritated glares, but he paid no heed to them. He rushed into the side room and pushed past some soldiers. Apparently he forgot that they were soldiers as well, as three of them marched towards him and stopped him in his tracks.

"What the hell are you doing?! I got an important message for the Pope!" The soldier yelled irritably into Group Leader's face. The leader shoved him down.

"Listen you piece of crap," The second soldier started. "We don't need to take that kind of disrespect from someone like you."

"Fuck off." The soldier stated casually. The leader of their little group growled.

"You think you can take all of us on?!" He roared. The lone soldier started tapping his foot impatiently. The third soldier, who hadn't said anything, suddenly unsheathed his sword. There was a crowd gathered around watching intently. The other two grinned maniacally. The lone soldier did the same. They all drew their blades, preparing for battle.

"So it's a fight you want huh? Bring it!!" The lone soldier said, charging into battle. The crowd roaring, the group of three charged in as well, howling all the way with murderous intent etched into their battle lust filled eyes...

**_WITH THE GROUP OF NINE..._**

The group thought about what to do next. Or, at least the older half of the group did. Not including Zelos, of course. He was listening to Lloyd's rant about some new story called Tales of Phantasia-something-or-other(ironic,ne?). Of course, Genis and Colette were too. They seemed interested in it. It took place a couple of millennia from their time, and had to do with time traveling(Sound familiar?).

Losing interest in the conversation, Zelos thought about his new technique that he acquired during training. It wasn't complete, but it was coming along fine.

_FLASHBACK..._

"Chosen-" Kratos started, but Zelos cut him off.

"Don't. Call. Me. That." Zelos growled. In his anger, his mana grew tenfold. Kratos saw this and was shocked, but he didn't let his face show it.

"Alright. Zelos. We will be having a sparring match to see how well you're doing with your techniques." Kratos unsheathed his prized sword, the Flamberge. "Starting now." Kratos charged with lightning speed. Zelos pulled out his Rare Shield and Ether Sword and blocked the attack with surprising ease.

"Stop holding back...old man." Zelos grinned. He whispered the last part, knowing full well that the mercenary could hear him. The said mercenary's eyebrow twitched.

"Very well! Ready? Demon Fang!" Kratos launched a very powerful Demon Fang. Zelos smirked.

"Is that all ya got? Demon Fang!" Zelos launched an even more powerful Demon Fang. Kratos got out of the way in time, but was shocked at how much the idiot improved.

"Fine then! Double Demon Fang!" Zelos blocked, but Kratos wasn't done.

"Too slow! Super Lightning Blade! Light Spear! Sonic Thrust!" Zelos forgot about Kratos' ability to teleport and was caught completely off guard. When Kratos finished, you could see deep cuts and gashes everywhere...but the one, truly evil thing that Zelos noticed...the one evil, evil thing...

_HIS HAIR WAS CUT._ Zelos let out an angry, anguished yell and said:

"You bastard!! You will pay...YOU WILL PAY!!" Zelos equipped the opal and moved at new speeds that even Kratos had trouble keeping up with. Six quick strikes, then a Sonic thrust. He was about to use Light Spear when all of a sudden a new formula for a different kind of Light Spear came into his head. Suddenly, Zelos exclaimed,

"Damn! I must be a genius!" Kratos was confused. He had never seen a different kind of Light Spear. He was curious to see what it was. Regardless, he guarded, waiting for the attack.

"Oy, Kratos. Too slow." Zelos grinned from behind. The mercenary's eyes grew wide.

"Oh, shi-" Kratos began.

"Dankuuken! (Severing Wind! He can only learned this on the Ps2 version. No joke. Just use light spear with a wind weapon equipped, like the Opal.) Kratos was sliced up by the winds and slammed down on the ground. Hard.

"That's enough. I'm beat. Thanks Kratos." With a wave, Zelos limped/dragged himself to the inn. Kratos used his sword to push himself up.

"..." Kratos, humiliated at losing to the red-headed idiot, slowly dragged/limped himself back to the inn. After Zelos went upstairs, Kratos soon entered.

"Kratos! Are you okay? Hold on!" After a few seconds, Raine cried, "Heal!" and Kratos was healed.

"Thank you." Kratos said and dragged himself up to his room.

"W-wait, Kratos! What happened?!" Lloyd asked.

"Zelos has gotten strong." Kratos merely replied. Hearing those words from one of the strongest swordsmen in both worlds, Zelos grinned, hearing Kratos say that. As you know, he went into 'his' room and saw Lloyd, Colette and Sheena curled up. Zelos thought he was dreaming and avoided Lloyd since yesterday.

_END FLASHBACK_

Zelos sighed. Why couldn't he get lucky like that? Maybe because of his perverted ways...If only he could change...but it didn't seem possible...

_OVER AT THE CHURCH OF MARTEL..._

Blood dripped from the lone soldier's head. He had just taken out the second soldier that was in the group. The only soldier that remained was the third soldier, who was more experienced than both the leader(who was pretty weak) and the second in command. Of course, the third soldier didn't get away without his own cuts and bruises.

"Heh...you're not half-bad." The lone soldier said, spitting out some blood. The other soldier smirked.

"...You're not too bad either. Now, let's finish this. We're both too weak to go much further. Agreed?" The silent one offered.

"Agreed." With one last battle cry and a charge, the two warriors prepared to finish each other off...

...Until the Pope came in. What he saw enraged him.

"STOP THIS IDIOCY AT ONCE!" he roared. They stopped.

"The Chosen's group is coming here in ten minutes. We must...prepare for their arrival." The Pope grinned evilly. Obviously he already had a plan...The heroes don't know the horrors that await them in Meltokio...

TO BE CONTINUED...

I'M NOT DEAD YET!!! ...So yeah, please review.


	12. Ambush on the Group of Nine

A Different Story

Episode 13-Assault on the Group of Nine

About half an hour later, the group had went into Meltokio, the City of Imperials. Lloyd, Colette and Genis had finished their talk about ten minutes ago. If he could, Zelos would've pulled out his hair about fifteen minutes into their discussion...that is, if he still had all of his hair. Sadly, Zelos had to even out his hair, after having some of it hacked off by Kratos during their training.

If Zelos was strong enough, he would've beat Kratos into the ground for cutting his precious hair, but even the pervert knew better than to try to stand against the Seraphim. 4000 years of experience against his, oh, 11 maybe, years of experience? Zelos knew better.

As they went into the city, they noticed that something was wrong. Usually, there were guards patrolling the city. No matter where you were in the huge city, there were guards.

Sheena was the first one to speak up on it. "Guys, something's not right here. No guards anywhere? They're usually all over the place."

Genis rolled his eyes. "No, really Sheena? You think we haven't noticed yet? Also, there's no people in the town square, either." Sheena's face flushed in embarrassment. She merely glared at Genis and turned away, at a loss for words. The child prodigy snickered at this.

Kratos spoke up. "Well, now that we've all confirmed that something's not right here, shall we look around for whoever's out today?" The rest of the group nodded.

"Raine, where do you think we should look first?" Said professor jumped at the sound of her name. The rest of the group looked at the two of them, curious as to why Kratos asked the Professor instead of Lloyd. As all of this was going on, a sharp pang of jealousy went through Lloyd.

'_He doesn't care about me...?'_ Lloyd shook his head. Why do those words sound so familiar?

"Um...we...should go to the inn since it's closest to here..." Raine said, obviously unnerved on how the mercenary put the spotlight on her. "Lloyd, is that all right with you?" She turned to her student who was currently holding his head in his hands. "Lloyd? All you okay?" The red clad swordsman instantly took his head out of his hands.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Anyways, I'm alright with going to the inn." He brushed past all of them and started walking towards the inn. The rest of the group was worried about him. Regal spoke up first.

"Colette, when you and Genis were talking to Lloyd earlier was he acting weird ?" The duke asked in a whisper. The blonde thought about it for a moment.

"No, not really except that he kept grabbing his head while talking to us." She replied. In one swift movement, Kratos grabbed Colette and violently shook her.

"Why didn't you say anything before?!" He shook her again. Genis and Regal had to hold him back. It took quite a while, though. Obviously the rest of the group, except for Lloyd, were shocked or upset at Kratos' turn of behavior. After Kratos realized what he had done, he looked over at Colette and muttered "I'm sorry" before moving on to catch up with Lloyd. Colette, who was paralyzed with fear, finally collapsed.

"Colette Are you alright?" Presea asked, showing more than the usual amount of emotion in her voice. With a shaky grin, Colette answered,

"Don't worry. I'm fine. Let's...just go catch up with those two." With positive nods, the group set off to the Meltokio Inn.

"**You did WHAT?!**" The infuriated voice of Lloyd shouted. Kratos winced.

"Like I said before, I'm-"

"Apologizing doesn't even matter to me ! You hurt my best friend. I should punch you right now for what you did !" The group, who had just got there, were shocked at what they just heard. Lloyd, threatening Kratos, his only relative?

"..." Kratos merely took the verbal assault. Lloyd didn't stop there. He had to keep going.

"It's not enough that you had to try and kill us twice, is it? Now you're hurting others close to me again!!" Kratos had to look away at those words. He knew that they were true, but it still hurt to hear that from his own son. Before Lloyd could go on, Sheena had to come up and stop him the only way she could.

_SLAP_

There was a stunned silence. The group was shocked at what the summoner had just did. Nobody ever thought that she would smack Lloyd like that. Hot, angry tears were coming out of Sheena's eyes.

"How dare you talk to your father like that, again! You're lucky enough to find your possibly your only living relative, and you treat him like dirt! You should be ashamed of yourself!" Sheena roared. The swordsman looked away, knowing that she was right. How could he treat his own flesh and blood like that? The swordsman turned around to face his father, shadows covering his eyes he walked towards Kratos and gave him a hug. Obviously, the others were shocked by this turn of events. Kratos was frozen to the spot.

"I'm sorry...dad." Lloyd muttered. At hearing those words, Kratos had to force tears from coming out. He merely ruffled his son's hair and said " It's alright. Now, let's go look for the people." Lloyd reluctantly let go. He smiled.

"Alright, Kra...dad." The others let out a breath. Zelos, trying to be optimistic, said,

"Alright, now that the fluff's over, let's gooooo!!" The others sweat-dropped. Zelos was always trying to be the comic relief when a dramatic moment finished. Sheena bonked him on the head.

"Stupid Chosen." She muttered. While rubbing his head, Zelos turned to face the group.

"And that is the way Sheena shows her undying love to me!" The group merely walked past him. Zelos really could be stupid some times.

"Awwww, no one loves me anymore!" Zelos whined, running to catch up with the rest of the group.

The group was finally at the entrance to the inn. They peeked in the window. The lights were on, but there was no one inside. Something was definitely odd going on.

"Hmm, I think we should split up into groups. Zelos, you and Regal check the basement. Dad, you and the Professor check that room next to the counter. Colette, you and Genis check the rooms on the second floor. Me, Sheena and Presea will check the third floor. Okay?" The group all nodded their agreement. "Alright, let's go!" They all split up.

"Kratos, your son has really become quite the leader." Raine said. He nodded. "I'm surprised that he doesn't act more like you." Kratos turned to her.

"He doesn't act like me because he had a better life than I did. He got his cheerful personality from...his mother." Raine nodded.

"May I ask what his mother was like?" Kratos stiffened.

"Of course, you don't have to if-"

"His mother was a beautiful woman." Kratos began, a faraway look in his eyes. "She was always happy, had a beautiful outlook on life, and loved her family very much. I don't want to talk about this any more." He walked off, looking for clues. Raine was confused. Why did he open up to her like that?

Lloyd, Presea and Sheena looked for clues in silence. There wasn't really anything to talk about. Lloyd remembered the conversation that had happened between Lloyd and her. As he thought about what to say to the ninja girl, they accidentally bumped into each other and fell on the floor.

"Sorry!" They blurted out in unison. Their faces flushed, they helped each other up and kept searching for anyone that could still be there. Presea watched the two teens with mild amusement, and went back to her searching.

Lloyd was really curious about what Sheena had said earlier about him yelling at Kratos again, so he decided to try to talk to her about it.

"Sheena..." Lloyd began.

"Yeah?" She asked. Lloyd was nervous, for some reason. He stumbled around, looking for the right words to say. Why was he so nervous?

"When...when you said that I was yelling at Kratos again, what did you mean by that?" Sheena was shocked. He didn't remember anything from the tower.

"You don't remember? You had-" Sheena was cut off by Presea.

"Excuse me, Sheena, but could you go get the others? I found someone." Sheena nodded and dashed out of the room. Lloyd stood there for a few minutes and sighed. She hadn't answered his question.

Lloyd walked over to the axe-woman and kneeled down next to her.

"So, Presea...can I see what the person looks like?" Lloyd asked. Without a word, Presea moved so Lloyd could get a better look at the person. It was a beautiful girl, around her mid-20's. Before Lloyd could get a better look at the girl, a cry of "Lloyd, Presea! We need you down here now! There are a lot of guards down here, and they say that we're wanted criminals again!" came from downstairs. The said pair looked at each other, picked up their weapons and ran downstairs.

What they saw shocked them. About twenty guards were dead, but there were about 100 guards trying to fend off the group. Zelos was doing well, holding off about ten guards. Sheena was holding off a few guards, allowing Raine to cast one of her light spells. Regal wasn't doing too well, getting knocked around a bit, but was letting Genis cast a new spell. He said the words to finally finish the spell.

"Tenkou mitsuru tokoro ni warewa ari,  
Yamino mon hiraku tokoro ni nanji ari,  
Ideyo, kami no ikazuchi!

INDIGNATION!" Genis roared. About 30 of the soldiers were killed with that one attack. Everyone froze at the powerful attack. The remaining soldiers turned and ran back to the Church. The group turned to Genis and stared at him.

"...What?" Genis demanded. After a few moments, Zelos spoke up.

"...Brat, you got wayyyy too much power for someone your age." Genis smirked.

"Shut up." The boy said. Lloyd turned to Presea.

"Presea, could you go and look after that girl? We'll stay out here and keep a lookout for any more soldiers." Presea turned and went back into the inn.

"So Genis," Raine began. "What was that attack that you used earlier?" Genis had a hint of superiority in him as he began.

"It was called 'Indignation'." Genis said. "It uses the mana of Volt himself." Just then a bunch of soldiers reappeared. There were even more than before! About 200 soldiers were there. Just then, the Pope himself had appeared. The group scowled at his appearance.

"Well, well. Look who's back." The Pope said. The group readied their weapons, preparing for any attack that the soldiers were planning. The Pope smirked.

"If you want the citizens of this town to live, you'll do as I say." The group reeled back.

"What did you do to them?!" Zelos barked. Hell, he might not like this city, but it was still his home.

"If you come with me, I'll show you. Follow me and do as I say." With that he walked away. The group reluctantly went with him. All of this was watched by a pink haired axe-woman. As they left, she carried the girl and followed them in the shadows...

TO BE CONTINUED...


	13. Fights & Help in Unexpected Places

Ahh! Finally! All those exams are over with! Sorry that it took so long to update. I guess that whoever cared to read this part found out that I just finished all of my exams a couple of days ago, so I should be able to update faster. Well, anyway, enjoy the chapter!

A Different Story

Episode 14

Fights and Help in Unexpected places

Presea sneakily snuck past the few guards standing watch outside the castle. There were about six guards in front of the castle, constantly switching shifts. When the coast was clear, Presea made a mad dash towards the bushes a few feet away from the castle doors. From what she could recollect from her memories, there were quite a few hidden passages all around the Castle. The one behind the bushes in the front of the castle led...somewhere. She couldn't remember where.

With expert stealth, Presea silently and swiftly picked off the rusted locks of the passage. She hopped in quickly, hoping to find her friends and take her next course of action.

Of course, she didn't forget about the girl that she had left behind in the hotel. She had left some fried rice, roasted meat and water for her when she'd wake up.

'I hope that poor girl's alright...' The axe-wielder thought. The girl looked to be a traveler upon closer inspection. She had short raven hair, and a sword which looked to be like a rapier over on the other side of the room. Apparently believing that the sword somehow belonged to the girl, she set the sword and sheath(which was on the other side of the room, away from the sword) next to the girl.

Disappearing into the passage, Presea failed to realize that the passage actually goes down...right into the dungeon, where everybody was at. Fortunately, a familiar face decided to follow her.

As Presea got up, she rubbed her stiff back. The impact had hurt, considering that she fell from about one hundred feet. She had picked up her axe and surveyed her surroundings. Dingy grey walls, cages...yep, she fell into the dungeon.

"Hn. I wonder if my friends are down here." Presea mused. As she contemplated her thoughts, she failed to notice the shadowy figure that had been following her for quite a while.

The pink haired girl slowly walked around and peered into the gates that held the prisoners captive. She was surprised to see that all of the cells were crowded, as if everybody in the city were being held down here.

The ax-wielder's eyes widened in surprise. That must have been why the city was so empty! She looked at the people in all of the cages and saw very familiar faces. The people who ran the inn were in one cage. Zelos' gold digging women were in another cage, crying their eyes out and messing up their mascara.

The people who ran the coliseum and their workers were in another cage. Some of the random people that Presea had seen in the slums and on the streets were cramped up, too. She had seen all of these people, but no one that she had traveled with!

Since no one noticed that she was even there, Presea silently walked on past the cages. After she walked past the final cage(with no one in there...what were they saving that cage for?) She came to a flight of stairs. Just as she was about to walk down the stairs, an unfamiliar cry of "Girl, wait!" followed by alarms going off were heard. About eight of the Pope's knights came out. Presea cursed. She had been found out.

"Halt! You are trespassing on the Pope's territory! You are under arrest! Surrender or die!"

"..." Without a word, Presea took out the Ogre Ax and got into an offensive position, ready to take down the knights. They chuckled.

"So that's how you want to play, little girl? Fine. Men, kill her!" With battle charged cries, the knights pulled out their halberds and charged at Presea.

The pink haired girl suddenly got into a defensive position as five of the guards tried to rush at her. She brought her heavy axe up with ease and blocked all of their attacks without so much as a grunt. The remaining three knights tried to catch her off guard by each of them attacking from a different position. One attacked her left, one attacked her right, and one attacked her back.. Presea heard them coming and cried out "Rising Punishment!" To knock them all back.

Three of the knights were already knocked out, since they were the more inexperienced guards. The most experienced one, being the one who attacked Presea's right side, held on and did a backflip. Presea wasn't expecting any of the guards to get up soon until it was too late. He had stabbed the girl in her back.

He barely missed Presea's spinal cord. As she yelled out in pain, the remaining knights began to stand up. As they saw their comrade's handiwork, they began to charge and go for the kill. The experienced one was just about ready to go in for the kill himself. As they raised their halberds to end the girl's life, Presea unexpectedly took out a hidden dagger and stabbed the closest guard in the head, instantly killing him. She took another swing and slashed another in the throat. The others finally got out of their shocked state and jumped back.

It was no use, though. A red surge of power flowed through her. It was so powerful that it was plain to see to the naked eye. The quiet girl turned her rage and adrenaline-filled eyes to the knights. She picked up her ax and charged at the remaining soldiers. The only one who was smart enough to get out of the way was the one that had stabbed Presea before.

"This is the end." Presea simply stated as she slammed her ax down with so much force that it shook the room and made cracks in the ground.

"Reppa...Enshougeki!" All that were caught in the blast were instantly killed...except for that one soldier. He laid panting on the ground, somehow surviving the blast. Presea, having lost her power surge, used her ax as a cane to support herself, glaring at the soldier. He merely turned his head towards her.

"If you want to kill me...now is your chance." The shadowy figure that was watching this whole time jumped from her previous hiding spot.

"Garr...what the hell are you doing, trying to kill that girl?! She saved my life!" Presea arched an eyebrow. It was that girl that she had saved before, from the inn! She silently watched their conversation.

"Saved your life...?"

"Yes, saved my life! Is your hearing bad or something?!"

"It's about to go bad since you're yelling in my ear."

"...Shut up." The man chuckled before struggling to sit up. When he finally managed to sit up, he said:

"I'm sorry. I didn't know that you were an ally of Rutee. My name is Garr Kelvin.

The girl, Rutee, spoke up. "I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Rutee Katrea. My friends got lost on the way here, and when I got here, some knights attacked the inn and made it collapse. So...what's your name?"

"Presea. Nice to meet you both." There was a slightly awkward silence until Rutee spoke up.

"You know, I should heal you two. Give me a moment." After muttering some words, she called out "Revitalize!" and their wounds were healed.

"Thank you." The pair said to Rutee. She smiled and nodded. They heard faint clanking noises. They sounded like...armor.

"We have to get out of here!" Garr said. Without another word, they ran in the opposite direction of the sounds, hoping to get out alive.

Well, that's that. Didn't expect that little crossover, did you? If you like it, hate it or find things wrong with it, don't hesitate to tell me in a review.


	14. Chapter 14

Sorry for the kinda late update. I had a program to go to, family to meet, my cousin's wedding ..you know, the usual. Anyway, I'm happy that they finally started making a Tales of Symphonia 2! Can't wait for it, even though it's gonna be on the Wii. Anyway, thanks to Mr. Who2123 for all of her positive reviews! All right, on with the fic!

A Different Story

Episode 14

Meet Up and Wake Up

Starting from where last left off, Presea, Rutee and Garr ran from the sounds of the armor. They took every twist and turn that didn't have a guard in it. Occasionally, they ran into a guard or two, but either Rutee or Garr took them out before they could call for help. They finally stopped to take a breather.

"Dammit! We've got to find a way out of here! We can't just go around in circles forever!" Rutee punched the wall in anger. Garr silently nodded while Presea searched her memories for the hidden passageways that she could remember.

There was the one that led to the kitchen, the one that led to the basement of the Church...that's it! Presea opened her eyes in realization while Rutee yelled at her sword. Presea looked at her skeptically while the swords woman looked at her and blushed slightly.

"...What, haven't you ever seen a girl talk to her sword before?!" Rutee asked/yelled.

The ax-weilder merely shook her head. Deciding to change this awkward subject, she said,

"I remember a way out. We should be able to escape by getting to the eastern wing. It's...this way." She pointed. The other two stared at her, speechless.

"...How do you know if this is the right way?" Garr asked after regaining his voice.

"...A while ago, I used to work here." The ax woman smiled slightly. The swords woman decided to speak up.

"Aren't you a little too young to work ?" At this, Presea's face grew solemn.

"Let's just say...that time abandoned me." She said nothing more and kept walking.

"Rutee, I think it would be best to not bring up that subject again. The poor girl must've been traumatized by those events." The wind swordsman whispered. Rutee nodded.

"Yeah..." The pair ran to catch up with her.

...After going through may twists and turns, the trio finally made it to the Eastern wing. The pink haired girl scanned her surroundings while Rutee slumped on the wall.

"Man I'm beat!" She complained loudly. Presea turned sharply towards her.

"Be quiet! Do you want them to hear us?!" She hissed. Rutee had shut up after that. When Presea had turned back around, the swords woman had stuck out her tongue at this. Garr merely sighed.

"When are you going to grow up...?" He whispered. Presea suddenly stopped scanning the place to suddenly run up to one of the walls and take out her dagger. Rutee hissed,

"Wh-whoa! What're you-?" Before she could protest any further, the Deadly Flower had already started hacking at the wall. After she finished, she looked inside to see who was shouting.

Regal and Colette were fighting off the guards.

------Over to Regal and Colette-------

The president and the blonde were fighting off many guards. There was one other person that was strapped down to a metal chair, looking like she was being tortured in some way. There was a huge machine hovering and blinking over her. She kept writhing in pain, sweat coming down her face mixed with tears. Her face was covered by the machine. Right now Regal and Colette were fighting off about six guards. Four of the guards were going for Regal, who quickly caved in one of their faces with a powerful kick, while the other two were trying to get the chosen, who was flying higher up so that the guards couldn't interrupt her spell...

-------Back to the trio-------

Presea silently cursed. They were in trouble. While the destiny heroes gawked at Collete's wings, Presea came up with a simple plan and turned to them.

"Those three are my friends. Could you please help me save them?" Rutee and Garr exchanged glances and nodded. Presea smiled.

"Thank you. Garr, please go help the man. Rutee, please assist me in helping the girl." They nodded and went to go help their assigned partners.

By the time Presea and Rutee got to Colette, she had finished her spell.

"Grand Cross!" She shouted. A big rune encircled the two guards, gave a short, powerful explosion of mana and formed a golden cross, effectively killing the two guards. Presea and Rutee stared, and Colette merely smiled.

Regal was defending Garr while he was preparing one of his spells. He did a combo that pushed back the guards a little bit.

"Rising Dragon! Eagle Fall! Triple Kick!" As soon as the combo was finished, Garr shouted, "Storm!" creating a mini storm that took out the guards. They ran over to the girls.

"Is everyone all right?" The president asked. Everyone nodded. Presea turned her head to Regal and Colette.

"I'm glad to see that you two are safe." Colette smiled.

"Us too. I was worried you and the others. Did you find them yet?" The ax girl shook her head no. The angel frowned.

"Oh well...we will find them. Oh no! We forgot about Sheena!" The pink haired one and blue haired one reeled back in shock and worry. They jumped back into the hole and used a technique each to get the heavy thing off of the ninja's head.

"Rising Dragon!"

"Infliction!" They had successfully got the machine off of the ninja's head. They were shocked at Sheena's look.

Her hair was tossed in many directions. Her once beautiful chocolate brown eyes were now glazed, dilated silts, barely noticeable. A cold sweat poured down her face as if she was going through 10 nightmares. Her soft, silky skin was streaked with tear lines, still fresh.

Presea hesitantly shook her.

". . .Sheena?" No response. Presea shook harder.

"Sheena?" Rutee and Garr looked away, solemn. Colette looked as if she was about to cry. Regal put his hands in his head, as if he was going through some kind of torture.

"Lloyd. . .I'm so sorry. I couldn't save another loved one. These handcuffs won't be coming off any time soon..." he whispered.

Presea kept shaking and shaking the future Successor, even giving her a few light slaps, hoping to get her to at least shift around a little. Oh yeah. . .Lloyd's gonna have one hell of a time when he sees Sheena again.


	15. Chapter 15

Sorry for the long wait. I've been busy trying to adjust to high school. Damn math classes...

Well, here's the next chapter.

Chapter 15

Presea started slapping Sheena a little harder to try and get her out of her trance like state. Seeing that the slapping wasn't working, the ax-woman started becoming more frantic. She didn't want to lose another person close to her, like her dad or her beloved sister Alicia...

Seeing that the young girl was becoming frantic, Rutee stepped up to Presea.

"Get out of the way." She ordered. After Presea got out of her slight shock from suddenly hearing a voice when it was so quiet, she complied with the order. Rutee concentrated for a few seconds before calling out "Dispel" and seemingly calmed the ninja down a little bit. She had finally stopped crying and her pupils returned to normal before her eyes closed all the way. Everybody felt relived.

"I'm glad to see that she's looking better now." Regal said. The chosen nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, me too. Now all that we have to do is find the others and get out of here"

"Wait." Rutee said. Everybody looked at her, confused.

"Do you have a healer in your group?" They nodded.

"Can you tell me what she looks like?" Rutee asked. Presea answered.

"She is an average height woman with silver hair and an orange coat. Her eyes are a grayish-blue."

The young healer pursed her lips for a moment and hesitantly asked, "Does she know 'Resurrection'?" The world regeneration group became really perplexed at this. Why would she want to know if their healer knows Resurrection if she's a healer herself? The answer clicked in their heads at the same time.

"You don't know the technique, do you?" Regal, Colette and Presea asked all at once. Rutee blushed, and Garr laughed.

"Shut up! It's hard to learn!" The brunette yelled.

"You three are the first ones to figure that out. The people in our group didn't even know."The young prince laughed. Rutee blushed even harder.

"Shut up! They didn't need to know that!" She hissed. The man merely smirked.

"..." The trio left the duo to their little spout. As the two continued, they noticed that the three were going down a corridor...without them!

"Wait up!" Rutee cried. She ran ahead with Garr right behind her, carrying Sheena on her back.

As they caught up, Regal, Presea and Colette suddenly stopped. The duo in back of them slowed down as they caught up, confused.

"What's wrong?" Garr asked. Colette turned around to face him and put a finger on her lips.

"Shh. I hear voices coming from down this hall." She whispered. Rutee strainedher ears to listen for anything. After a few seconds, she caught a few words like 'dare, touch, stop' then an agonizing cry of pain from what sounded like...three people?! They had to help them!

"It's Zelos, Raine and Genis..." The tiny angel said. Regal and Presea looked shocked.

"What?! All in the same room?!" Regal hissed. Rutee was shocked. How could she hear them so well?!

"This has to be some kind of trap!" Presea cried. The chosen stayed silent for a moment, then declared that they make a plan...

----With Zelos, Raine and Genis-----

The three of them were holding on for their lives...literally. A giant hole appeared in the middle of the floor after they exhausted themselves from fighting random, powerful monsters. They were now trying to hang on for their lives, lest they fall into the dark abyss.

"Zelos, can't you summon your wings?!" The little mage cried.

"If I could, I would have done that a LONG time ago!" the pervert shouted back.

"This isn't good..." Raine murmured. All this time, the Pope sat in what seemed to be the King's throne, with Princess Hilda sitting at his side, looking displeased an helpless at the same time. She wanted to help them out, but knew that she'd be risking her own life at the same time. She just didn't know what to do.

"Heh. If you merely pledge allegiance to me, and call me master, I'd save your pitiful lives." The Pope sneered. Somehow, without falling, Zelos flipped him off.

"There's no way in heaven, hell or earth that we would ever pledge our loyalty to you! I made that mistake once. I won't do it again!!"

From the depths of his soul, he summoned up enough mana to call forth his wings. He swopped down and grabbed the two half-elves before they fell. He set them down on safe ground before his wings disappeared and he fell unconscious.

The professor ran over to him and used Cure, her strongest spell, on Zelos, and gave him three Pineapple gels, just to be safe. She softly smiled.

"Zelos...thank you..." Genis merely watched with a soft smile on his own face before turning to the hated Pope, his face set in stone.

"...You...bastard...you almost killed my sister, for something so selfish as loyalty. I'll kill with my own power!" He said this as he prepared a level 3 spell. The Pope watched in horror at the force the spell was giving. He didn't even notice that the hime(princess) had gotten away.

"Crush this being with the power of gravity and earth!" Genis chanted.

"Add Pressure!" As the Pope prepared for his death, he remembered the 'secret weapon' that the 'black haired freak' gave him before disappearing. He opened his gown to reveal a dark black/purple Cruxis Crystal.Just as he revealed his crystal, the spell had not affected him. The two conscious members were shocked at what they just saw. Just then, Colette and the others barged in, to be just as shocked at what they are seeing. The pope started to laugh maniacally.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAAA!! I can feel the power the crystal's giving to me! Huh?" The man started to feel a sudden change inside of him. His body was mutating.

"Ugh!" A bright light filled the room. The group had to cover their eyes to prevent becoming blind. As the light faded away, and the group risked opening their eyes, they were shocked to see what had become of the pope.

To put it simply, he looked like a creature from Hell.

His face was slightly rotting, like a zombie's. He was six feet tall. His skin had tightly wrapped itself around his bones. He had very few organs remaining, and they were all in different places, as if he shifted them around for his own sick pleasure. His heart was protruding out of his back, still beating. His rib cage tightened, as if it was shielding what was left. Everything else was missing. His staff turned into a polearm. The group looked disgusted at the sight.

"That's just plain sick." Zelos stated. Just as the former pope had readjusted to his new body and his enhanced sight and sound, another figure warped into the room. The person looked like someone that they had seen before, but different somehow. Just as they caught whiff of his strong mana, the regeneration group reeled back in shock. Garr and Rutee merely gawked at how much power this being was giving off. He couldn't be human or half-elf...

"Yuan?!" Raine yelled. The black haired angel turned his cold, blueish-gray eyes towards them.

His hair was slightly longer. It crept past his shoulders. His mana was much higher than before, even higher than Mithos' himself. His Cruxis Crystal was even darker than the Pope's crystal.

"Kill all of them." He stated with a deeper voice than before. He warped out of the building to sights unknown. The Pope cackled gleefully before diving towards the group at supersonic speeds...

...And getting knocked backwards by three swords.

The world regeneration group looked in awe and happiness at their luck.

"Lloyd! Kratos!" The group screamed in happiness. Rutee and Garr stared at the two newcomers and smiled.

"Hey, prince...Let's let them fight this one." Said prince nodded.

"Agreed."

Lloyd glanced back at his friends and gave them very goofy smiles.

"Don't worry, me and Dad'll have this taken care of." He grinned. Kratos looked back at Genis and Colette and slightly smiled.

"Get out of the way." The duo that Kratos addressed both grinned and told everyone to stay back.

"The last time he told us that, he saved our lives. This time, he has his son to back him up." Colette said. Sheena slightly stirred.

"Lloyd.." she said in her sleep. Lloyd glanced back at her, studied her for a moment, and gave the mutated Pope the ever-so-famous "Aurion glare".

"You did that to Sheena...prepare to die!" Once again, the Pope cackled like a maniac.

"You'll die first, slowly and painfully! I'll kill your father too!" He shifted into an attack position.

"Get ready" Kratos said. With that, the three charged into battle...

Again, sorry for the wait. Next time in 'A Different Story', Kratos and Lloyd fight the Pope. It seems that they have some new tricks up their sleeves, then again, so does the pope. What'll happen next...?

Next time, "A Heated Battle"


	16. Chapter 16

1I'm back. Hmm, I just noticed that I made Rutee a little bit older. Oops.

A Different Story

Chapter 16

A Heated Battle

Lloyd, Kratos and the pope charged all together at the same time. Sparks flew as the four weapons collided with each other. All three of them were at a stalemate for a few seconds before Lloyd and Kratos suddenly broke contact with the Pope's weapon. Caught off guard by the sudden action, the pope stumbled a bit. Taking advantage of the situation, Kratos tried to slash at the pope, but the pope blocked at the last second. The crystal had apparently enhanced his reflexes and strength. Taking note of this, Lloyd scowled and charged in with his blades up in an attempt to push the corrupted leader back a little.

The pope had saw this coming, yet pretended to not notice this. At the last second, the pope did a roundhouse to make Kratos stumble and slashed at his back. Before he could complete the act, Lloyd took a slash at his chest, forcing the Pope to harden his arm's bone marrow to act as a shield and block Lloyd's blade.

This act shocked the others.

"He can harden his bones?!" Genis cried. As much as it fascinated him, it worried him more that the father-son duo might not be able to defeat it by themselves. Rutee and Garr looked on, disgusted.

"This is like Miktran all over again..." Rutee mumbled. The silver-haired prince glanced at her before agreeing.

"Yes, it is." He said.

34343434334344444444444444444444444444333333333333333333333333333333333

In the Tower of Salvation, Yuan sat down, deep in thought...or so it seemed. Anybody who took a glance at him could see that he was going through a internal struggle. The struggle seemed to be external as well. His hair kept changing from blue, to blonde, to his now grey. The process kept going on before Yuan yelled:

"Get out of me, Mithos!!"

11111111111111111111111111111112222222222222222222222222222222222222222

Lloyd launched a Demon Fang at the pope, which the pope easily blocked. Kratos took the opportunity to charge in towards the pope to begin his assault.

Six slashes. The pope blocked the first four, but his guard was broken when Lloyd crept up on him and started his own assault. Kratos started using his special techniques first.

"Sonic Thrust! Double Demon Fang! Super Lightning Blade!" He yelled. While he was doing this, the twin swordsman used his Tiger Rage-Sword Rain: Beta combo for more damage. While the pope was recovering, Lloyd got an idea and grinned. This was sure to shock everybody...

"Dad, this is a good time for practice! Cover me, please!" Lloyd called out. Kratos got the idea and smirked.

"Go ahead and try it, Lloyd..." This got the others confused. What did Lloyd have planned?

"Hey bud! Whatcha planning?" Zelos called out. Lloyd looked at him and grinned.

"You'll see!" He replied. The red clad swordsman backpedaled a bit before taking a deep breath. He put up his swords in an x-position and concentrated. Genis and Raine caught the amount of mana he was absorbing and soon saw the red Glyph under his feet.

Everybody saw it and gaped.

"No way..." Genis breathed. Sheena started to stir from the amount of mana being absorbed into one place. After she focused her vision, she saw Lloyd...casting magic?!

"Lloyd?!" the young ninja whispered. Said swordsman started the chant.

"A blazing fire incinerates all!" He shouted.

"Explosion!" A huge ball of fire came speeding down on the target-the pope. Kratos held the pope off for a few seconds longer, then teleported next to Lloyd, shocking the pope.

"How-?" Before he finished, he saw the giant dome of fire coming down. Knowing that he had no way to teleport like that man, he merely braced himself for the impact...yet he couldn't stop the screams that came out of his mouth. Lloyd took this time to search for Magic Lens to see how much more they had to deal with. He looked and saw that the pope still had about 5,000 points of health left. Lloyd sighed.

"Dad, let's finish this up." He said. Kratos nodded. A white light surrounded Lloyd's blades as he charged in and slashed.

"Lloyd, show them the other magic that I taught you!" The angel called out.

"Alright!" his son replied.

"Holy Lance!" Five spears of light rained down on the pope as he let out a bloodcurdling scream. One of the lances pierced his heart, and all of the lances were going straight through him.

"Judgment: Zero!" Kratos' new judgment attack zoned in on the stunned pope. Five pillars of light came raining down on him. The two weren't finished yet. Their attacks combined into one.

"Word of God!" Eight holy crosses came down on the pope. After they were gone, one final cross came down, bigger than the rest, on the pope. The pope's final words were:

"Damn you..." Before he died and his body vanished.

The others ran up to the two as Sheena cried "That was amazing Lloyd!" Lloyd almost choked on the Pineapple Gel that he was swallowing. After swallowing it, he stood up straight and cried her name with happiness. As they ran towards each other, they embraced with happiness before tears came into Lloyd's eyes, surprising Sheena.

"Lloyd...?" Sheena whispered.

"Don't ever scare me like that again..." He whispered. The others looked on with happiness, except for Colette, who looked on with jealousy and anger.

"Well, well, another corny scene." An intermingled voice drawled. The others towards the source of the voice in shock.

"...Yuan?!" Kratos said. Said person smirked.

"No, traitor...it's Mithos." He said. The regeneration group looked at him as if he were crazy. He rolled his eyes and pulled out his wings...which were rainbow colored and larger than Yuan's. Raine gasped. This scent of mana...it was Mithos!

"It's really him!" The professor said. Mithos grinned.

"You've stayed alive for too long. Prepare to die!" He said as he charged forward...

11111111111111111111111112222222222222222222222222211111111111111111111

Omake #1-At the tower, their defeat

"...Heh. I don't know what to tell you. I'm just a weak, lazy bum. All I want is a fun easy life. Nothing more, nothing less!" Zelos said as he pulled out his orange wings. Lloyd, Regal and Sheena charged at him.

As he blocked all of their attacks, he suddenly pulled out a Light Spear Cannon and caught Lloyd with the upward thrust bringing his health into the critical levels. Raine started to cast Healing Circle. Zelos, noticing this, pushed the remaining two back and ran pretty fast to interrupt her casting. Presea intervened in time and blocked Zelos' sword with her axe. The professor finished her casting and brought Lloyd's health back up to near prefect.

Genis had cast Spark Wave, catching Zelos off guard. Regal, Sheena Lloyd and Presea started beating Zelos down, forcing him to teleport and use his instant casting to use Judgment. The pillars of light knocked out Genis and Raine. Regal and Sheena frantically searched for Life bottles while Lloyd and Presea defended them. Zelos smirked. Perfect...

Zelos summoned a Glyph with his mana. Waves of light came up and damaged the remaining fighters.

"I'll show you when I'm serious." The angel said. "Shining Bind!" More powerful waves of light came up and made pain course through their bodies. To them, everything turned white.

Zelos closed his eyes and put away his wings.

"I'm sorry guys. Really..."

Please review and tell me how you felt about this chapter!


	17. The Explanation, her feelings

Sorry for the long wait. Now, the confrontation with Mithos and an explanation of why Lloyd can use magic now.

Chapter 17

Mithos' power

Mithos' new power had caught everyone off-guard, but they managed to recover in time. As Mithos brought out a hidden dagger, he infused it with light energy to make the blade's reach double. This didn't faze the group at all. Sheena was about to charge in when her fatigue had caught up with her and made her head spin. Just as she was about to fall to the ground, a hand covered in a black glove caught her.

"Hey now, you shouldn't be trying to fight," Zelos was about to pull her over towards Rutee and Garr when the young ninja pulled her hand away.

"Let me go! Everyone's fighting except for me! I need to-" She suddenly cut herself off when a wave of nausea hit her.

"See? You aren't fine. Just sit down and try to relax. Hold on." The redhead cast Healing Stream before setting her down.

"I won't just because you tell me to! I'm goin-" As Sheena got up, she was once again cut off and knocked out. Zelos used the butt of his sword to hit her in a pressure point. She wouldn't be getting up for a few hours. The young Chosen picked her up and led her to the two foreigners, who were watching him the whole time.

"That was a bit cruel," Garr stated. Zelos gave him a grim smile.

"I know. But, she's my best bud's future girl. I can't let her get hurt too much, can I ?" The redhead gave the prince a two fingered salute before running off into the battle.

During the little scene, the rest of the party were trying their best to fend off Mithos. Since Mithos and Yuan were, in a way, fused together, one single body had eight-thousand years of combat experience. Altogether the entire party had barely over half that much experience, so of course the battle was extremely difficult.

Raine was constantly healing as Mithos was dodging all of their attacks and counter-attacking. Genis didn't even bother casting low-level spells, since he knew that they would have very little to no effect.

Presea and Regal were combining their attacks. The two had become a formidable pair of destruction. Kicks, axe swings and swords clashed many, many times. The pair were dodging the angel's blows just as he was dodging theirs. Unfortunately, their was a huge difference between the genetic code of an angel and the genetic code of a human.

Angels didn't need to breathe.

Mithos was taking full advantage of that fact. The axe-wielder and martial artist were getting tired. Regal grimaced.

"_Those two need to hurry up. We haven't much time left before we collapse..."_ He thought.

The two spoken of were no one else but the father and son duo. Lloyd had taken a serious blow to the ribcage, and now was finding it very difficult to stand. Kratos had cast three of the most powerful healing streams that he could muster up, but it didn't seem to help much.

Zelos was already helping Presea and Regal by Kratos' fifth spell. The ancient one was getting frantic.

"_Why isn't anything working ?!"_ He thought. By then, Kratos wasn't thinking straight. He failed to notice the red outline on Lloyd's body. Lloyd didn't fail to notice it, though. He weakly tugged on his father's cape and told him to hand him an anti-magic bottle.

At first, Kratos was confused. When he looked at Lloyd's body a little more carefully, he noticed the red outline and understood. After giving his son the item, he cast Healing Stream once again, bringing Lloyd's health up substantially. The twin swordsman got up and glared at Mithos, promising death.

"...Cover me," That was the only thing that he said. It was all that needed to be said, as his father got the message and ran into the fray to continue the relentless assault on his former friend.

Zelos and Kratos took Regal and Presea's places. Since both used the same techniques, their different sword styles easily merged with each other's. Mithos was now on the defensive, not swaying under the accomplished swordsmen's mighty blows.

Although it seemed that Mithos was struggling against the two, he was only using about forty percent of his power, amusing himself by watching the group's futile attempts to defeat him.

A powerful intake of mana caught the blonde one's attention. It felt familiar, but something seemed...off. He turned around and saw Kratos charging towards him...but wasn't that him taking in mana? Mithos looked past his old friend to see Lloyd... preparing a spell.

What the hell?!

As Mithos was caught off guard by this revelation, Kratos used the blunt end of his sword to push the blond one back. Presea also used the blunt end of her axe to push Mithos back more. Zelos used the sharp end of his dagger to leave a slightly deep cut on Mithos' stomach. Finally, Lloyd finished charging his spell.

"Explosion!" Mithos saw this coming and hastily teleported to the other side of the room.

" Dammit...change in plans. It looks like you used that old trick on Lloyd that I taught you, Kratos," the angel sneered, clutching his gut.

"I'll leave you alone...for now," He vanished.

The group plopped down, exhausted by the past day's events.

"Can we eat? I'm starving..." the redhead complained. The prodigy groaned.

"Sure, but it'll take a while. While I'm cooking, Kratos, can you explain how Lloyd can use magic now?" He replied.

"Everyone(except Sheena) looked at Kratos. He cleared his throat and told them of an event that happened after finding the Cruxis Crystals.

"After my original group found the Cruxis Crystals in an unknown cave, I had found out about some unusual changes in my body. I discovered that I could use magic after accidentally lighting a tree on fire. Wanting to control these changes, I asked someone who was naturally used to using magic."

"And so you sought out Mithos' help," Raine said.

"Correct," Kratos replied, giving her a slight smile, causing her to blush.

Lloyd groaned.

"I think I might have a new mother," he whispered to Rutee, who snickered.

"After getting experimented on in what is now Sybak, we found out that I had Aionis in my blood. After getting key crests, Mithos taught me how to calmly focus on my mana and Aionis, fuse them together since I wasn't naturally attuned to the elements, and release them to create magic," Kratos explained, ignoring Lloyd.

The original group gaped at him.

"So, let me get this straight," Zelos started. "You taught Lloyd, our country bumpkin-" said bumpkin scowled, "-all of that since his exsphere is evolving in the span of nine hours?! He shouldn't be able to use such high level spells!" Now the group gaped at Lloyd, who rubbed his neck in embarrassment.

"The low-level spells are boring. The high-level ones caught my interest. Using Explosion finally lets me say 'Burn to oblivion!', like Sheena does when summoning Efreet, y'know?" Lloyd explained. The group sweat-dropped.

"Y-you never paid any attention like that in class!" Genis exclaimed. The twin swordsman shrugged.

"Eh. Classes were boring," he replied. A vein popped up on the professor's face. Lloyd sweat-dropped.

"Uh, professor, shouldn't you wake up Sheena? She needs to eat too!" the young man nearly yelled. The teacher sighed.

"You're not off the hook yet," she said. She walked over to the unconscious ninja and used Resurrection. Slowly, the girl came to.

"Ugh...what happened...?" She said, getting up. Zelos sauntered over to her.

"Are you okay, my honey...?" he cooed. Suddenly, she remembered everything.

She punched Zelos. Hard.

The group gasped, save Kratos, who merely widened his eyes. The girl fought back angry tears as she stormed off. Zelos sighed. He knew that this was bound to happen.

"Sheena!" Lloyd called out, chasing after her.

"Wait!" Collete cried out, fixing to go after him. Kratos stopped her.

"Kratos-!" Collete started, but said mercenary cut her off_**.**_

"Let him go. You had your chance, and missed it. He moved on." he said. The group merely watched Lloyd and Sheena get farther and farther away as the maiden silently sobbed into her hands, the angel rubbing her back...

Well, that's that. Let me know what you thought of this chapter.


End file.
